When my girls were smaller, they all slept in the nest boxes at night. sometimes I would find 5 of them piled in one nest box when I would check on them at bedtime. It was hot, so I would drag some of them out and divide them out through the 3 boxes. Finally one of them began using the roost.
then I moved them to a new coop with new everything. They adapted beautifully. The all prefer sleeping on the roosts.
I had decided that I would just clean out the nest boxes early if they wanted to sleep there. Some of that will depend on where you live. If it is cold and they want to sleep together in an enclosed space for warmth, why not? I figure with only 7 of them, they can sleep where they wish. I just checked in on them tonight. The heat lamp (plugged into a thermo cube) came on about 5 (on at 20 degrees, off at 30 degrees) and will be on most of the night, so they are all hanging out on the roost near the heat lamp. I think the wind is keeping them awake though. It is absolutely roaring out there.
Squatting is when a pullet "assumes the postion" for the rooster to breed her. She lowers her body and spreads out her wings a little. Trust me, you will recognize it when you see it. 5 of mine do it when I approach them sort of hunched over (under the netting over their run) or reach down to pet or scratch them. They think I'm the rooster. If you scratch them just above the tail feathers on their backs, sometimes they stand up and fluff their feathers. It's really cute. Everyone here (well mostly) says that is a sign that eggs are on the way in a couple of weeks. I saw the first squat at the beginning of the month (about, well, 11 days ago).
The egg song is the bawking that chickens do as they lay eggs. If you do a search for egg song, there are better descriptions out there. gryeyes sent me a recording of the egg song last summer, and I listen to it when I want a smile. I suspect she would be glad to message it to you, too.
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